Have you ever had one of those days?
You know, those days, the ones in which you find yourself asking.........really?!
Every day presents its own little challenges, issues, hurdles, and hiccups. With our shop, these presented themselves, this week, in the forms of wrong parts sent, delays in parts sent, incomplete parts sent, you know, the usual when it comes to retail/service.
One day, in particular, more than filled its quota of hiccups.
It should have been simple. Our car needed an update for Onstar, I needed to book a quick doctor appointment. Two birds, one stone, simple.
Except.....
We all know, in Canadian, the word "summer" translates into "road construction". Well, "summer" is in super-full swing in good ol' Saskatchewan. There are a few different routes from where I live to where I needed to go, all of which are under various degrees of construction, I thought I picked the least of the evils. I was wrong.
You see, the plan was this:
1) Leave home by 9:15 (I live 90 min from car appointment)
2)Drop part forgotten by customer, in Outlook on my way to the city
3) drop car off for upgrade appointment 11:15am
4) take pre-arranged shuttle from dealership to doc appointment at 11:50
5) take same shuttle back to dealership, wait for car, go home.
Simple.....
You see, what actually happened was this:
1) Leave home at 9:15, as planned. ( I HATE being late)
2) get stopped for construction for about 15 minutes with about 40km to go.....still okay, had given myself extra time..not my first rodeo, I'm a local, I know the summer construction drill...
3) get led by pilot vehicle through 60km/hr zone (not a big deal, it'll be tight, but if we only do this for a few miles, I can still be on time)
4) Continue to follow pilot truck the entire rest of the way to the city.... (Only gonna be a few minutes late, not ideal, but not horrible)
5) The pilot truck pulls over, I can finally see past him... yay... a train.....(I'm screwed)
6) Call the dealership and get appointment changed to 12:30, head straight to doc appointment.
7) Get to doctor office early in hopes of making up a few minutes (don't laugh....it could happen......but, it didn't)
8) Get in to see the doc at 12:10 out by 12:15, can still make car appointment if traffic isn't too bad.
9) Get to the dealership at 12:36, where, after being led to the service department, I overhear a service writer saying "Well, she had an appointment for 11:15, she's like an hour and a half late...."
Nope....
10) After explaining to the nice young man that I had called and changed the appointment and encouraging him to look at his bookings one more time, my car was successfully dropped off.
11) After being told my car wouldn't be ready until at least 4:00, I asked if the same shuttle that would have taken me to my doc appointment could give me a ride to the mall. I figured I would catch a movie to kill time.
12) Get to the mall, resigning myself to see whatever movie was playing at that given moment. (My hip still yells at me if I mall crawl too long).
13) The new Spiderman movie, sure, why not? 3D was my only option. 3D movies give me motion sickness. My hip was yelling. Yelling hip trumps motion sickness.
14) After paying for my $12 ticket, buying my $20 popcorn, which was doing double duty as lunch (hey I made it healthy by adding almond m&m's...don't judge), I settled in to watch Spiderman with the spattering of tweens, who also apparently had a Tuesday afternoon to kill.
15) 30 minutes into the movie, I feel my phone buzzing. I step out to answer, and it's the dealership. My car is done. See ya later Spiderman. It is now 1:45. I felt bad for the shuttle dude.
So, as I was waiting for my shuttle driver guy outside the mall, mourning my abandoned, partially eaten popcorn, I checked my email. There was one from McNally Robinson. It was from the events coordinator, thanking me for choosing them for my launch and to inform me that "Once Broken" had made #2 on their bestseller list for the week.
Funny how one little piece of good news can cure the hiccups.
On the way home, there was no pilot truck, but there was the same 40km in which the speed limit remained at 60km/hr. The sky was a bit stormy, the breeze fragrant with the promise of rain. As "summer" now forced me to stop chasing the clock, I allowed myself to let the news in the email sink in. If I told you that a few tears of overwhelming joy never fell, I'd be lying.
I cranked the radio, sang along, and cruised home.
As for the next few days........
Spending a bit of time with some family.............
Attend a play that has a writing friend's fingerprints all over it.........
Work the shop to ensure fishing trips aren't missed.....
Prep for a wedding we are DJing next weekend.......
Well folks, that about does it for now....
May every hiccup be counterbalanced by a bit of good news.
May you slow your speed, crank the radio, grant yourself permission to just cruise.
May you allow the good news to go deeper than the bad ever could.
May you spend your time on doing more of what you love and less on what you should.
May you breathe.......deeply.....it's okay, you've earned it.
Until next time.......
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